Give it a year or two and it will be interesting to see whether statistics show the amount of HGV traffic on our roads has increased markedly due to the rapid, pandemic-driven shift to online shopping and home deliveries. Right now the point is moot but one thing is for sure: bridge strikes by HGVs continue to happen with monotonous regularity all over the U.K. For instance, this horrendous strike in Epsom and this one in Banbridge, County Down, took place in just the past few weeks; both, thankfully, without serious injuries to anyone involved. Naturally, road and rail traffic hold-ups ensued, with all the costs and disruptions those typically entail.
Usually, drivers bear the brunt of the blame for bridge strikes – for not knowing the heights of their vehicles, driving without due care and attention and so on. Whoever may be to blame in individual cases, there’s no doubt that transport operators could greatly help their own cases by providing their drivers with all the technical support that is available these days. A cutting-edge, cloud-based communications solution that takes into account a driver’s vehicle type and size and plans their route to avoid possible hazards such as low bridges is available to any transport operator today. And, in the event of unforeseen traffic delays or road works, such a solution can also adapt in real-time and re-route the driver via a simple app on their phone. Our own CarrierNet Hazard Avoidance Routing Tool (C..H.A.R.T.) was built specifically to accomplish this.
C.H.A.R.T. also takes care of recording and comparing routes driven as well as planned, and delivers improved and transparent reporting to management and any appropriate external stakeholders such as road and rail authorities.
Strike while the iron is hot If you’re a transport operator who is interested in minimising the costs and time delays of bridge strikes on your business, contact Bashir Khan right here for more information about C.H.A.R.T. and its full capabilities.